fabulousness with a scoop of fun!

Orange

The thing about working at ModCloth is that you’re surrounded by a bunch of people who share a similar aesthetic. And everyone has an employee discount. And so, invariably, one day you come into work and you’ve got a twin!

Hannah, Rocky, and me. Photo by Santina of Style by Santina.

This was totally unplanned, but funnily enough it was about a week after we had a “Seeing Double” day, where Hannah and I purposefully wore the same outfit as each other (but a different one from this).

This week I participated in a style challenge! The theme was summer hats. My hat of choice? A fancy, Melbourne Cup / Kentucky Derby style hat in bold orange, with orange and crème colored feathers.

Photo by Pat Zimmerman.

I paired it with my newest Bettie Page dress – it’s aqua with orange accents, and printed with Eiffel Towers and fleur de lis. And I love the fun detail in the back!

Photo by Pat Zimmerman.

Alas, the weather in San Francisco in the past couple of days has been less-than-summery, so I had to add a cardigan. (The eternal story of SF “summer”!) But with the bright colors, I’m bringing in my own summer sun!

We’ve had a few warm, sunny days, bringing out lots of bright colors and spring fashion (see the outfits in my last Seen Style post). Here was my nod to warmer days:

Photo by Jenn

I wore my Eva Franco “Sunday Diving Skirt”, which I love for its colors and fun art-deco-style beach print. (So maybe it’s more summery than spring – or consider it an homage to spring break!)

Sunday Diving Skirt, Eva Franco via ModCloth. Photo by Jenn.

Check out the details on this skirt - love the illustration!

I paired the skirt with rich browns and cool blues – topped off with large shades.

Photo by Jenn

And when I was walking with Jenn I happened to look up and see this shot. The bright light, yellow building, and palm fronds captured the sunniness of the day – but you can see bare, wintry branches in the background.

Like this:

When the runway and look book photos for Resort and Spring/Summer 2012 came out, I was super excited to see all the French orange and blue. I thought these looks from Louis Vuitton embodied the color scheme particularly well:

From the Louis Vuitton Resort 2012 Look Book

French orange and blue has a special place in my heart – it reminds me of my aunt Sue. For my 16th birthday, she rallied the whole family into funding a trip for me to Paris – her absolute favorite city. The trip was amazing – not only because Paris is a wonderful city, but because Sue shared with me what she loves best. And it’s the little details that stuck with me, like her love for the classic French combination of orange and blue.

So that’s why I was so happy to see the color combo hit the runways again: it makes it that much easier to find fantastic clothes in colors that I love. Like this orange and blue Eva Franco dress from ModCloth!

Maritime Moxie Dress by Eva Franco

I paired it with blue suede shoes from Chelsea Crew:

Suede and Swing Heels by Chelsea Crew

And went out to enjoy a beautiful San Francisco day with Rocky. :)

Rocky Reach!

Have to say, I’m looking forward to the coming spring and more opportunities to wear this dress!

I had a rather fun morning – got to be a hair model for a DIY to be posted on the ModCloth blog. The only downside was that I had to let my hair set all day. But ModCloth has a stash of vintage scarves (used for other DIY posts), so I was able to grab a silk scarf and wrap up my ‘do.

Showing off my super-fashionable head wrap ;)

Okay, totally not my usual style, but it was kinda fun. And went pretty well with my outfit.

It seems I’ve had a thing for patterns recently – this dress is another Trashy Diva fave.

Retro Revamp Dress by Trashy Diva, via ModCloth

I wasn’t actually planning on taking pics while my hair was still up, but went out with Santina to snap a few photos of her because her outfit was adorbs.

Santina strikes a pose

And as you can see, I somehow managed to convince her to ham it up a little. I think it suits her, even if it’s not really her MO. Check out this sweet kawaii pose:

Santina’s Kawaii Pose

After work, Santina and I headed to the San Francisco Center for a party hosted by Madewell and Fabsugar. This was, of course, after my ‘do was finished: a tightly curled 1920’s hairstyle.

Santina and Kate @ the Madewell & Fabsugar Party

The party was all about shopping, meeting other bloggers, and talking fashion. Not a bad way to unwind after work. :)

Shopping and socializing @ the Madewell & Fabsugar Party

Lovely bloggers at Madewell.

One of the coolest parts of the party was the Fabsugar style contest: anyone who wanted to participate had to style & model an outfit using Madewell clothes. And I’m happy to take advantage of any excuse to play dress up!

Participants in the Fabsugar Style Contest

It was a little tricky, because most Madewell pieces are cut for thinner, straighter figures. Their skinny jeans? Not gonna work on someone like me. But I found this awesome green dress and managed to whip something up that’s totally my style: retro & colorful.

Rocky loves to play, and tug of war is one of his favorite games. Sometimes he’ll try to draw me into a game with his own leash. I never let him do this, but he just looked too adorable and (full disclosure here) I thought it would make for a cute photo. (Bad doggy mommy, I know!)

Tug o' war with Rocky! Photo by Santina of Style by Santina.

Anyway, back to the outfit. :) At work, we’ve got an employee exchange rack – you know, when you work at a fashion retailer, you’ve got to clear out your closet regularly to make room for the new stuff. So somebody came up with the brilliant idea of starting an exchange rack. I’ve left things on it and scored a couple of good finds – including this awesome giraffe sweater!

Photo by Santina of Style by Santina

And after browsing some fantastic fashion blogs recently, I was inspired to step outside my comfort zone and mix up a couple prints – in this case, the animal-patterned sweater with a chevron skirt.

Mixing patterns: giraffe print and chevrons. Photo by Santina of Style by Santina.

I also sprinkled in some fun bracelets. The black and white one is a bracelet I picked up when I visited a friend in Senegal a few years ago.

Photo by Santina of Style by Santina

Experimenting with these patterns was fun – and as you can see, Rocky definitely approved. High five!